As a Sales VP, you are responsible for regularly informing your CEO on the key sales metrics they need to stay on top of the current pipeline and plan for upcoming revenue growth. Transparency is good for business, and communicating with your CEO about how the sales team is doing on a weekly basis will lead to higher efficiency and better performance for everyone.
Here are the top 3 sales metrics to report weekly to your CEO.
1. How is the team performing so far this month?
One of the most common questions CEOs get asked – and should be able to answer accurately – is some version of “How’s business going?” She should not only be able to answer immediately, but be able to back it up with up-to-date data. On a weekly basis, you should send your CEO an updated sales report on how the team is performing so far this month. Does she need to help focus them more on short-term payoff (if the team is behind the curve), or can she turn the focus to building pipeline for the next period?
The graph below shows month-to-date bookings for the first week of the month. It appears this fictional company is well on pace to surpass their month-to-date goal.
If the blue line indicating “month-to-date bookings” falls below the “month-to-date goal” trajectory, the CEO might want to meet with the VP of Sales to discuss their plans for getting the sales team back on track to hitting monthly bookings goals. If the month-to-date bookings are on or above target, the CEO can focus his or her efforts on next month’s strategies.
2. What is our bookings forecast?
Your CEO should be updated weekly on not only how sales are doing so far, but how they are forecasted to do for the rest of the reporting period. She can use this forecast to craft more informed, data-driven strategies for targeting market segments, creating expansion initiatives, or organizing a project to revive an aspect of the company that is not doing well.
Keep your CEO informed on these metrics using a combination of historic performance and conversion rates, and details about the specific opportunities in the pipeline, such as age, stage, and size. Find out how to measure and report these key sales forecasting metrics here.
3. Are there any opportunities your CEO can help with?
Your reps are working hard on their open opportunities, but there is always a chance one of these opportunities could benefit from a little CEO push. Your CEO should receive a report of your team’s open opportunities so she can see if any of them appear to be stalled. The report should include the opportunity owner, creation date, value, last activity, and whether the account has forward momentum or stalled momentum. She can also use a report like this to familiarize herself with any big opportunities that have come in over the last week, like in this table:
Keep your CEO up-to-date on your pipeline by sending them weekly reports on these 3 key metrics. Communicating these reports will mean a happier CEO, a more transparent work atmosphere, and a more successful business.
Which sales metrics do you like to send your CEO every week and why?
